The Victor
by liltrix
Summary: Tahno has always been the competitive sort. Speculation piece after Tahno loses his bending. Oneshot.


**ugh I just have all these Tahno feels sdkjfgfh**

**I love angsty Tahno, but I miss his sassiness already. _;**

**I hope you enjoy~**

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This is not him, he decides.

Tahno is not this man with the scraggly hair and the sallow face. He brings his hand up to the mirror, not noticing that it is trembling, and runs his fingers against the surface, along the outline of the stranger.

The stranger looks at him with tired, beaten eyes. He raises his hand just as Tahno does (how curious!). The porcelain sink is filled to the brim with water. Tahno stares at the clear liquid with mild interest. Why had he filled this sink, again? Why did water seem so important at the moment? It is just water. Nothing special. Just like him. He is nothing special, either.

The voice in his head argued with him, _What are you talking about? You're Tahno- you're anything but average, you're one of the best waterbenders around, you're the top Probender every year-_

The stream of thought halts abruptly when Tahno slams both of his hands hard against the counter, giving a sudden harsh cry that he wasn't sure had really come from him.

"I can still bend," Tahno whispers desperately. He moves his hand in a fluid motion upward, knowing that the water from the sink would soon follow, just as water always did. When Tahno moves, water follows.

The evil liquid stays put.

He lets out a slow, haggard breath, sounding as if he hasn't spoken for days. Perhaps he hasn't, but he can't really remember.

Tahno had always been the competitive sort. So much so that it had become a bit of a disadvantage as he had grown more eager for the satisfaction of victory, willing even to cheat in order to quench the thirst. He had trained immensely to reach where he'd been. Tahno had become so involved in honing his bending skills that he had lost all real connection to people. Standing at the mirror now, he cannot remember the last time he has spoken to his family.

(Although, he is not very sure if they are interesting in speaking to him).

But now that his bending has gone, it as if a part of him as gone as well. Since bending had encompassed his life, (had encompassed his being, in fact), its absence had left a gaping hole in Tahno's sense of self worth. He doesn't know what he is good for anymore. If he is good for anything at all.

_Well, what are you, if you can't bend?_ the voice in his head taunts. _You're worthless, you're nothing, you're a failure_-

"I'm not... a failure," Tahno says. But there is no resolution in his voice; this is not the confident drawl that he had once possessed. This voice is quiet and unconvincing. He looks at the stranger in the mirror again, the stranger with the clumped, snarled hair and the forlorn expression. He hates this person. This person is everything he is not: weak, insignificant, and disappointing.

Blood is rushing through Tahno's veins quickly now and he feels some sort of insuppressible anger building up. The emotion is so intense and so sudden that it almost frightens him. His breathing quickens, the intakes becoming sharp.

In a sudden, hysterical frenzy, Tahno brings his hand up in a sharp movement and thrusts it into the mirror. It shatters instantly, the serrated fragments flying through the air, covering the counter and floor with their violent edges. His hand is dripping red now, but surprisingly, Tahno doesn't feel any pain. There is a terrible, sick numbness overcoming his senses. He pulls his hand away from the mirror, opening and closing it, trying to feel something as the shards pierce his skin.

But the ache in his hand still does not come.

Tahno laughs a little. He has won, now. He has defeated the pain. The pain cannot overcome him because he does not feel it to begin with. He will not feel pain from this mirror; no, he will never feel pain again! He won't allow it!

Borderline giddy with this realization, Tahno opens his hand, the glass falling as he does so. Blood is still running from his severed skin, and his eyes follow the bits of glass as they splash into the water. The same stranger that had appeared in the mirror floats in the water and stares at him. The face is twisted and looks hysterically happy.

The grin falls off the face as the red swirls in the clear. Tahno stares at the stranger. Tahno stares at himself.

Tahno is defeated.

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**Reviews would be lovely! :D**


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